East Haven Dems vow unity after primary ‘warfare’

Stacey, DePalma camps say they’ll turn attention to Maturo, GOP

Published 11:31 pm, Friday, September 6, 2013

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East Haven Dems vow unity after primary ‘warfare’

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EAST HAVEN >> The night of July 16, when Democrats voted 44-17 to back Jack Stacey over Gary DePalma in the race to unseat incumbent Republican Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr., also saw more than 20 candidates for other posts stand up and walk out of the caucus in a dramatic display of support for DePalma.

A summer’s worth of campaigning and door-knocking will come to a close with Tuesday’s primary, only to see the process immediately reset and begin anew as the Democratic Party’s sights set on a more traditional foe: Republicans, who currently hold a 8-5 majority on the Town Council, with two other councilors unaffiliated.

Each of the town’s five districts has three council seats, and both Stacey and DePalma are rolling out a full slate of candidates.

Of the 26 Town Council candidates that Democratic Town Committee Chairman Gene Ruocco presented for endorsement in his July 15 email announcement, 14 bowed out and decided to run under DePalma’s slate.

The question facing Democrats now is, when the blistering primary season finally ends, will both sides be able to find unity?

DePalma said in a statement that “differences of opinion will never get in the way of our higher objective — to bring honest leadership to Town Hall.”

“To suggest East Haven Democrats will be divided after Tuesday’s primary is presumptuous at best,” he said. “The fact is we will embrace the entire electorate, everyone will benefit from change in November.”

In an Aug. 22 letter to the editor, Ruocco touched on the sense of unity East Haven experienced following the tragic Aug. 9 plane crash that resulted in the deaths of two Charter Oak Avenue residents, as well as two people on the plane. Ruocco, a fierce backer of Stacey, wrote that “it would be great to maintain that sense of togetherness all the time.”

Yet members of DePalma’s campaign have staunchly claimed that it is Ruocco that has created the divisions among town Democrats.

Jeff Strand, a retired East Haven police officer who worked alongside DePalma during the latter’s career as an officer, also has spoken out about the campaign’s opposition to Ruocco. During a Register editorial board meeting last month, Strand said Ruocco “works with Maturo’s staff, it’s about keeping a hold over the taxpayer process.”

“It may seem foolish, but to these people that get on boards and commissions it’s a big deal, it’s a fiefdom, and Gene (Ruocco) wants that continual job bank for family and friends.”

Strand’s point was simple: as long as DePalma loses on Tuesday, Ruocco will still have control over the Democratic Party, regardless of whether Stacey defeats Maturo in November. The rationale goes that if Stacey loses Tuesday, Ruocco will lose his hold over the party.

Ruocco said he’s willing to overlook everything that occurred leading up to the primary, “even though the people around Gary’s (DePalma) campaign have built their campaign around attacking me.”

He added that it is “unfortunate that Mr. Strand has gone to tying Jack (Stacey) to me as if I’m Darth Vader.”

Ruocco acknowledged that campaigns in East Haven “can be like warfare,” and said that even if DePalma and the members running on his slate win on Tuesday he’ll “overlook everything and bring this town committee together as it should be.”

“I know they’re hoping to paint the picture that a defeat for Jack (Stacey) is a defeat for me, but I don’t see it that way,” he said.

This is not the first time East Haven has witnessed a fierce challenge by a mayoral candidate who failed to secure his party’s nomination. Maturo in 2011 lost the Republican mayoral endorsement to former Board of Education ChairmanJohn Finkle. Maturo did not accept defeat and successfully petitioned to run an independent, third-line candidacy.

A three-way race between Maturo, Finkle and then-Democratic incumbent Mayor April Capone never materialized. Finkle bowed out roughly a month after winning the nomination. In his resignation letter, Finkle wrote that “a three-way race only will guarantee this administration (Capone) two more years in office, and that just can’t be.”

Some of the tactics that drove away support for Finkle are reminiscent of the moves pulled this past summer. Just before he stepped aside, Finkle blasted a “dirty” poll that posed questions designed to disparage him.

One of the questions referred to the personal bankruptcy Finkle faced in 1992.

It was never confirmed which candidate prepared the Finkle poll.

In May, Stacey was forced to address his own financial problems, when court documents related to his house foreclosure were mailed anonymously to residents. He vowed to remain in the race.

On Friday, he reiterated a point he made following his July endorsement.

“I can work with anybody,” he said.

Stacey said there are candidates on both his and DePalma’s slates that he’d “love to work with.”

“If I’m not successful, I’ll throw my support behind Gary,” he said. “I certainly hope people who support me would back Gary as well.